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Today, Carolyn and I had a few friends over: high-school buddies Ted Bleaney and Gillian Clinton, and our dear friends Marcel Gagné and Sally Tomasevic for a day of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.

We put in episodes of Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and UFO, and watched them on our big-screen TV. It was loads of nostalgic fun, and quite interesting to watch the Andersons’ Supermarionation technique develop from the primitive Supercar to the incredibly lifelike Captain Scarlet.

I chose episodes that were highly regarded at online review sites:

Supercar: “What Goes Up” (Episode 4)

Fireball XL5: “Robert to the Rescue” (Episode 21)

Stingray: “Stand by For Action” (Episode 17)

Thunderbirds: “The Uninvited” (Episode 5)

Captain Scarlet: “The Mysterons” (Episode 1)

UFO: “The Man Who Came Back” (Episode 16)

Had we had time, we would also have watched an episode each of Joe 90 and The Secret Service, but our dinner break at Swiss Chalet took precedence. These were the episodes I had queued up, though: